Four people detained over allegedly smearing lime and soot on a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital's Segunbagicha area are being interrogated at the Detective Branch (DB) office.
The detainees are Ayas, member secretary of the organisation Rashtrachinta, and its members Sakibul, Sujan Mia and Narjia Khandaker Rimi.
Moniruzzaman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Shahbagh Police Station, said they were detained around 12:30pm on Saturday and later taken to the DB office for questioning.
He said around 11:00pm that the four remained in DB custody, but no decision had yet been made regarding further action against them.
No formal complaint had been filed with the police station over the incident by 11:00pm, the OC added.
According to reports, activists of Rashtrachinta smeared lime and soot on Tagore's portrait in front of the Shilpakala Academy around 11:00am, triggering tension in the area.
A verbal altercation subsequently broke out between Ayas and people present at the scene.
Police arrived as the situation escalated and took the individuals to the police station to defuse the tension.